The only person who showed up to our Halloween Happy Hour in costume is one of two Cajun Jews called Alex who work for Live Nation. The one wearing the bat suit at Wayfare is Alex Rosen, a refugee from Lafayette who now lives in New Orleans and is the Marketing Manager for all the new Fillmore  music venue – a 2,000 seater in Harrah’s Casino.

Alex tells us we’re going to be able to see big name bands in a state-of the-art intimate setting.

The Aquarium of the Americas is just down the road from the Fillmore, and that’s where you’re going to be able to experience Andrew Preble’s new night out, playing a game that pits you against shark killers. Andrew is the brains behind Escape My Room, an awesome escape room experience that’s definitely worth a night out, as Andrew Duhon and Grant Morris discovered one night after Happy Hour.

Andrew Duhon has just returned from re-discovering his Cajun roots at a week-long camp-out with a bunch of hippies, folkies and Cajuns. What came out of the week of two-stepping and learning to play the fiddle is a beautiful song, about a love that lasted “Almost Forever.”

Aziz, aka + Aziz, has a band called Kuwaisiana. If you don’t know the band already, you’ve probably already guessed it’s a meeting of Kuwaiti and Louisiana music. The songs are passionate and moving, even if you don’t know that “Neta” is Aziz’s early love and “Wahda bi Wahda” means “an eye for an eye.” Kuwaisiana has a big deal record deal in the Middle East and are making waves on all sides of the Mediterranean and the Mississippi.

Even though this show was recorded on Halloween, nobody mentions it even once. That’s the great thing about Happy Hour: there’s always something more interesting to hear about than what’s going on outside. This is a fascinating conversation about a whole lot of topics most of us know nothing about. It’s New Orleans!

Photos at Wayfare by Jill Lafleur.